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Features |  14 Nov 2016 20:07 |  By Zinal Dedhia

Music in their genes

Mumbai : Music runs in their veins and pulses in their voices. These are the kids who were born, not with a silver spoon in their mouths, but with golden vocal chords inherited from their parents. Small wonder then, that their songs reached us when they were still toddling to the nursery. Take a look at these gifted star kids of musicians, who have wowed us over the years.

NEVAAN NIGAM

Sonu Nigam’s son Nevaan Nigam is all of seven, and in a position to provide stiff competition to most in his age group when it comes to crooning songs. The little fellow accompanies his father almost everywhere and has often featured in viral videos singing along with Nigam senior. Nevaan cut his first song with Lata Mangeshkar. The song sung by Nevaan and Lata was released in 2011, which has a sargam by Nevaan at the end of the song 'Geet Kab Sarhadein Maante Hain'. It was a moment of happiness for Sonu Nigam when Lata posted on her Twitter account - 'my fav. singers, Sonu Nigaam and his son Nevaan'. Nevaan's version of Tamil star Dhanush's chartbuster 'Why this kolaveri di' when he was barely four melted hearts and topped the charts. It also got him his first award, the Lions Gold award- as best child singer.

ANMOLL MALLIK

Daughter of well known Bollywood composer Anu Mallik, 26 year old Anmoll began her singing career by lending her voice for the movie 'Biwi No.1'. She went on to record her first vocal track at the age of five. This was followed by other movies where Anmoll sang as a child artist, such as 'Mela' and 'Badal'. After her graduation, Anmoll released the English single 'The Graduation'. The song has been composed, written and sung by her. It was an experimental online release by India's premier Bollywood portal Bollywood Hungama.

DIVYA LEWIS

Divya Lewis gained popularity at 14 with her performance in Coke Studio - “Aao na gale lagao na” a duet performance with her father Leslie Lewis, who is himself a well known composer and  singer, part of the Colonial Cousins duo of Lewis and Hariharan. Four years on, Divya is keen on pursuing music full-time as she plans to record original albums and perform across the country. She can compose music, play the piano and guitar.

RANU MUKHERJEE

The name may not ring a bell, but kids of the last two generations at least have grown up listening to 'Nani teri morni ko' from the film Masoom (1960), which she sang when she was barely eight. Daughter of veteran singer and composer Hemant Kumar, Ranu Mukherjee was a playback singer in Bengali and Hindi films in the 1960s and 70s. She sang several songs as a child artist. Other than her father, she has worked with music directors like Laxmikant - Pyarelal, Shankar -  Jaikishan, Salil Chowdhury and Jaidev, but unfortunately never scaled the heights of success her father did.

She was a very versatile and popular artiste who sang modern pop as well as Rabindra Sangeet. The first Bengali Pop song 'Kuch Kuche Kalo Se' in the 1969 Puja was sung by her under music direction of V Balsara, say reports.

SULTANA  NOORAN

Sultana Nooran, now 22, is a well known singer from Jalandhar. Trained in the field of Sufi music since she was 10 by her father Ustad Gulshan Kumar, a Sufi composer and singer himself, Sultana and her sister Jyoti Nooran are now famously known as the Nooran Sisters. Music is a legacy for her - her great grandmother Bibi Noran was a renowed Punjabi Sufi singer of her time in the 70’s. The 'Phataka Guddi' song from 'Highway' was a turning point for Sultana. At MTV Coke Studio. she took over the stage with her strong, impactful voice and charismatic personality by performing the traditional sufi song, 'Allah Hu'.

ADITYA NARAYAN

Multi-talented Aditya Narayan who is a singer, composer, Indian bollywood actor and television host has been following in the footsteps of his father Udit Narayan since he was a toddler. Aditya started his career in singing at a very early age and was trained by Kalyanji Virji Shah. Narayan's first playback song was in 1992 for the song of Nepali Film track for 'Mohini' when he was just five. In 1995 he did a cameo in a song from the film 'Rangeela' with Asha Bhosle.  Later in 1995 he performed in 'Akele Hum Akele Tum' along with his father, Udit Narayan. As a child artist, Aditya performed more than 100 songs and also released the album "Aditya”. Interestingly, he has won many awards for his most successful song  Chhota Baccha Jaan Ke from the film 'Masoom' in 1996.

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